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TODAY — All trucking eyes on THUD markup: The Senate Appropriations Committee takes up a DOT funding bill today, and both the trucking industry and safety advocates will carefully be watching Sen. Susan Collins. The Maine Republican plans to offer an amendment targeting hours-of-service rules for truck drivers. Collins and others remain mum on the details — an aide said that it was still being worked on yesterday afternoon — but several sources point to dissatisfaction with the 34-hour restart, which forces a driver to be off work for 34 straight hours before starting a new workweek. Parts of that rule particularly irksome to the trucking industry, which Collins could target, are the mandates that a driver be off-duty on two consecutive days between 1 and 5 a.m. and that 168 hours pass before restarting the work week.

Hallway safety: Safety advocates have been on high alert and have sent several letters to lawmakers asking that the current rules not be changed or defunded. Before today’s markup, some of those advocates and family members of those killed in truck crashes will gather in the hallway outside the Appropriations meeting room talk to reporters. Parents Against Tired Truckers founder Daphne Izer, who was recently named a “Transportation Champion of Change” by the White House and has criticized efforts to roll back the rules, will be among those on hand. A release from the Teamsters, the Truck Safety Coalition and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety urged lawmakers to keep the restart provision and reject any efforts to boost truck length limits.

GM to unveil internal probe results: Today General Motors releases the results of its internal probe of the faulty ignition switches that led to a series of massive recalls and have been tied to 13 deaths. GM CEO Mary Barra will speak to employees at 9 a.m. “global town hall meeting” at the company's headquarters in Michigan, followed by a press conference and a 1:30 p.m. conference call with Wall Street analysts. The hotly-anticipated internal investigation, conducted by former U.S. attorney Anton Valukas, could lead to a second round of hearings on Capitol Hill. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who leads the Commerce subcommittee investigating the recall, has already said she plans on holding a second hearing following the report’s release. USA Today has more: http://usat.ly/1jRjAVJ

THURSDAY, JUNE 5. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports, where on this day in 1933, the United States ditched the gold standard. I like tips, news, cheers and jeers: asnider@politico.com. There’s more on Twitter: @AdamKSnider and @POLITICOPro.

SENATE WON’T DELIVER ON POSTAL SERVICE PLAN: The House’s plan to pay for a Highway Trust

Fund bailout with changes to the Postal Service, like rolling back the six-day delivery mandate, continues to get a chilly reception in the Senate. “I know they’re trying to come up with a way to do this on a short-term basis. Ultimately we’ve got to get to a longer-term solution,” Senate Commerce ranking member John Thune told MT. The South Dakotan — also a member of the Finance panel — said that “we’ll take a look at it. It’s interesting, but I think we’ll probably have some other opportunities.”

But what will they do? Finance Committee members met yesterday to begin plotting a path forward on the HTF, and Chairman Ron Wyden said he wants to report a bill out of the committee before the July 4 recess. But what form that takes remains to be seen. Republicans on the panel meet today to talk about the issue, Thune said. Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray told MT that she’s working with Finance members on a trust fund solution.

WAPO TACKLES THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND: The Washington Post’s editorial board wants a real user-pays system for transportation, and isn’t a fan of the plans from House Republican leaders or the administration. “The smart and obvious way to fund federal transportation policy is to create a steady, long-term funding source to finance multi-year projects, one that relies on fees from users — such as a higher gas tax or a vehicle-miles tax,” the board wrote in a piece posted yesterday evening.

‘They will have to develop some backbone’: The Post noted the progress of Finance members meeting to talk about the issue but bemoaned the fact that “the debate still appears to be moving inevitably toward how to push the issue off for a while, not about adopting smart transportation policy any time soon.” The piece — with the headline “Congress detours from common sense on the Highway Trust Fund” — ends with this parting shot at policymakers: “If the nation’s leaders are too cowardly to make obvious policy choices this year, they will have to develop some backbone before the next self-imposed transportation funding crisis. At the rate we’re going, that won’t be so long from now.” http://wapo.st/1p8oxyO

TO TALK OR NOT TO TALK: Kevin has the story in today’s POLITICO paper: “The vast majority of the 3,000 comments filed across two agencies about the FCC’s proposal to begin allowing airline passengers to make calls from 40,000 feet came from regular Americans. And those comments were overwhelmingly negative. But moneyed interests, primarily those who have a stake in putting their technologies on planes to enable voice calls to happen at all, seem to feel that the government should get out of the way and allow the public to have what it wants — despite the fact that what the public seems to want is for the ban to continue. In any case, it’s unlikely the FCC is going to have the final word on voice calls. Both opponents and supporters of allowing passengers to ring their friends, family and co-workers told the agency it wasn’t in the best position to determine whether to allow voice calls. Instead, the comments said, the Department of Transportation should have the final decision.” http://politico.pro/1kyr9VU

EAGERLY AWAITING TANK CAR STANDARDS: Yesterday the Greenbrier Companies and Watco Companies announced a new joint venture — GBW Railcar Services — that will create North America’s largest network of independent railroad tank car repair, retrofit and maintenance shops. With an eye on the upcoming formalization of new safety standards, the companies are aiming to lay the groundwork for plenty of business once those standards are set. In an interview, Greenbrier CEO Bill Furman told MT that the railroad, shipping and supply industries are “all united in a circle of value, delivery and performance that requires safety be a paramount thing.” The huge spike in energy shipments has been a “paradigm shift,” Furman said, adding later that “it’s not your mother’s railroad anymore.” GBW’s network of 38 facilities around the country will help get railroad fleets into shape, and Watco Executive VP Ed McKechnie noted that “the downside of not having a network is that customers have to take longer to get rail cars back into service.”

GM STOCKING UP ON LOBBY SHOPS: From the excellent POLITICO Influence: “Automaker General Motors brought on at least two lobbying shops this year to work on recall and product safety issues amid a massive vehicle recall. … PI reported yesterday that downtown shop Holland & Knight was retained in late April to work on the product recall issues for the firm. And, according to another lobbying registration, GM also brought on the firm Purple Advocacy in early May to work on tax and safety issues for the automaker. Meghan Johnson — former chief of staff to Rep. Linda Sanchez — is the only lobbyist listed on the account. That brings GM's lobbying presence in Washington to a dozen outside firms, plus its in-house lobbying operation. The company spent $2.9 million on lobbying in the first quarter of 2014.”

THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)

- Bus rapid transit lanes are in the District of Columbia…in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” that is. PlanItMetro: http://bit.ly/1kCVwee

- A sinkhole closed part of U.S. Route 50 in Annapolis, Md., yesterday afternoon. WaPo: http://wapo.st/1rN3Mxb

- The world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International in Atlanta, is getting free Wi-Fi. The AP: http://on.wmaz.com/1xakM0r

- The private contractor hired by Australia to find the missing Malaysia Airlines plane will have 300 days to finish the search. Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1ovSk36

- Curious about transportation demand management in Arlington County? Read on for the low-down from Mobility Lab: http://bit.ly/1ktYjY2

THE COUNTDOWN: MAP-21 expires and DOT funding runs out in 118 days. FAA policy is up in 483 days. The mid-term elections are in 152 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 887 days.

CABOOSE — Greyhound nostalgia: The Greyhound Line started in 1914 to transport miners in Minnesota, and a lot has changed since then — especially when it comes to the buses. The Old Motor looks back at some pictures from 1937 and later years of the “A.C.F. (American Car and Foundry Company) Brill Suburban Motor Coach that was a 42-passenger unit with rear-mounted under-floor Hall-Scott power.” http://bit.ly/1odrePX (h/t Bryan McMahon)

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